The Virgin Strike Thread II

[scoobydooo]

Rubyrocks,

I understand your post, having only joined in March it is perhaps hard for you to appreciate what has happened to our conditions over the years in the airline (I dont mean to sound condescending and apologise if I do). The 3rd long post on this thread taken from cabincrew,com summaries it beautifully. Being a 28 year old living in London I fully understand your plight regarding having to come to work due to financial constraints, however the big picture is this is the very thing we are tying to improve so that we dont have to live perhaps quiet so hand to mouth.

You obviously feel it is worth being a union member so soon in your career with the airline which is great news, you obviously also appreciate that they are there to protect us in various matters. What weight do you feel the union will have in any further negotiations in years to come if its members do not back them now ?

I know you are thinking about tomorrow and can you pay this bill and that bill, but what about next year and the year after, this is long term planning for the future, not just for the month

I refer to a post from cc.com rather than retyping...

Ni Boi

I can honestly see where you are coming from especially as you have only been here a few years ( if by that you mean,not many) If I saw a 4.8% for only a months standby then that is pretty reasonable.

I think one has to look at the general decline in our terms and conditions over the years of late that has led to this situation. There are other departments which felt circa 5 years ago that they were undervalued in comparison to their counterparts in other airlines, their department and union did something about this. Unfortunately whilst we (Royal) felt the same it has taken some time for us and our union to get up to speed to even have any chance of hitting the ground running in order to be able to achieve what the other department achieved. (a package which brought it in line with another major player). We must remember that Virgin fought to prevent us from achieving union recognition in the workplace and it was not all that long ago we achieved it.

Originally posted by ni.boi

I feel "my opinion only" that some crew have got very greedy with this whole situation and I fear that it has gone too far. If VS can operate "which I think they can" then we will get nothin! So then where will we be? back to square one with nothing in our pockets.


Well this is the situation we are in now, the cherry (4.8% offer) that was left on the table to try and sway the ballot did not work, so the 4.8% offer is gone, vamoose see ya. So... what now, well it is exactly as you say above, we are back to square one with nothing in our pockets ( unless we work as a team.)

So what do we do ?

Well you have opted to go to work as normal and that is your choice.
I, on the other hand feel that this is the most momentum the union has EVER had in negotiations since its inception in the company. To just go to work now and not carry through with the strike ? this would destroy the union overnight. Imagine the scenes at the next negotiations, we want this, the company - NO, we want that, the company - NO. In effect they would not fear the power of the union or its right to enforce industrial action as a last resort, why well because we would be a joke, ah yes strike action, we remember that, - last time you threatened it no one striked. All future negotiations would be fruitless unless we are prepared to show that a unified, unionised, workforce sticks together and will not tolerate out terms and conditions continually being attacked in order to maintain the cost of living.

The company is trying to call our bluff and I bet their chins ht the floor with 71%, they expected a NO vote. Those who voted yes to strike must strike, and those who did not are more than entitled to strike (even though they voted against it initially). Perhaps those who voted No to strike did so to preserve the 4.8% offer, it is gone now.

I therefore ask that you might consider the next set of negotiations and how we might fare if we do not stick with the majority now. We are not seeking drastic rises, just fair rises and terms.


It is the united front that will achieve our goals